


Purpose, Escape , Regret

by Clover_UwU



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Author Can't Tag, Deepnest (Hollow Knight), Minor Violence, Pale king is only mentioned once, Violence, dead vessels, fluff at the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:34:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29969211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clover_UwU/pseuds/Clover_UwU
Summary: There was nothing before the light, and there might as well have been nothing after it. That was all they knew when they came into existence. They needed to climb to the light, and they needed out of this dark place. Those feelings came next, although even now they weren’t sure if those feelings were their own, or ones instilled in them.
Relationships: Vessel oc & nailmaster mato, vessel oc & vessel oc
Kudos: 3





	1. Purpose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This is my second work on this site, and my second fic, so I’m not that great at tagging things! Please for the love of all things amazing let me know if I missed tagging something that could be triggering to others. Also, please don’t expect super high quality writing, I’m only writing this for fun and am nowhere near any sort of professional level.

There was nothing, and then there was light. That was all they knew when they came into existence. They needed to climb to the light, and they needed out of this dark place. Those feelings came next, although even now they weren’t sure if those feelings were their own, or ones instilled in them.

Not knowing what else to do, or knowing if there was anything else to do, knowing a point in this seemingly bare existence that they were cursed with, they climbed. Up, up, and up. Platform by platform, not stopping to question how they stayed midair with nothing to support them because there was no questioning.

They lept from platform to platform, noting only their near-failures. Nearly missed that one. Nearly missed that one. As something fell beside them, one of their own. Something deep in their mind called out sibling, but the light even outshone those thoughts, and yet- something was wrong. Before moving on to the next platform on their climb up, they stopped to examine their kin. 

It was cold. Not the comforting void-cold that made them, but a different one. The only way they could think of describing it, despite them not supposed to be able to think at all, was, well, wrong. They sat and watched them, waiting for them to get back up and continue the climb. That never happened. They lied there, cold, unmoving, gone. 

They didn’t have time to process this, however, the light calling them back on their journey. It was back to the routine of climbing and counting. Until they missed a jump. They reached out, managing to grab a rock that stuck out on the ledge, but they were slipping, and below, a pit of spikes. They could make out a few of their kin from here, spikes jutting through their void, shells cracked and cloak-wings ripped. 

Something reached out to them. Another hand, larger than theirs, but still made of the void. They moved their hand up, and the other grabbed it, pulling them up, slowly. As soon as they were on safe ground, their kin let go of them, sitting down next to them. They had two sets of horns, one long, and standing straight up, while the other, short round stumps on each side of their head.

They tilted their head slightly, asking if they were okay. They were, now that you had helped them. Then, they continued onwards, towards the light, never straying too far from each other. They continued like that until the light went out. Until the light vanished, and they were left with no purpose again. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Time had passed. A lot of it actually, but exact times escaped the vessels. They were growing restless. Since the light-that-killed went out, they had nothing but each other, and the miserable creatures that crawled along the floating platforms.

Little, dubbed that by their siblings, was not the rare exception to restlessness. They had sat and waited for too long. Waiting for what exactly? They didn’t know. It might be the light-that-kills return or their siblings touched-with-light waking up. Maybe they were waiting for the small piece that was missing, the sibling that was not there. But now they were done waiting and had instead taken to pacing back and forth at the bottom of their birthplace.

The-vessel-that-helped-them, that sadly had no name, came up to them. They placed a hand on Little’s shoulder. There was a silent, “it’s going to be alright,” shared between the two.

Little looked up at the-vessel-that-helped-them. Confused as to why they came over to them, but it was good to have reassurance, despite not knowing what that reassurance was for. 

Their sibling then pointed up. Up to where the light-that-killed once stood, up to where no void being had gone once they learned of the fate their siblings met. The place where one of them vanished, never to be seen or heard of again, presumably taken by the light. 

Did their sibling want to go up there? Did they want Little to follow? Why? But they didn’t have too much time to consider before the-vessel-that-helped-them started climbing. They jumped to the first platform, before looking back at Little, and there was no doubt they wanted them to follow. So they did.

The two vessels climbed up together, much like their first ascent, one never far away from the other. There to catch each other when one falls. It wasn’t long till they got to the-vessel-that-helped-them’s destinations

It was about three-quarters up their birthplace, near the opposite side the light-that-killed was. Their Sibling pointed to the wall, where they noticed a small ledge, one of their kin could stand on if careful enough. That was just what they did. Their sibling jumped from the platform onto the ledge, motioning for them to follow. They did, albeit far more hesitantly.

From there, Little could see something they never expected to see. A tunnel. One that would presumably lead them out of their birthplace. It was small, and lead almost completely upwards, but if it meant out, and away, if it meant any chance of something new, then they would take it.

Little looked at the-vessel-that-helped-them who gave a nod, they had found this place because they knew Little wanted out. They had found it for them, and they weren’t about to refuse the opportunity.


	2. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter w/ character death, so proceed with caution!

Little entered the opening, looking behind to confirm that the-vessel-that-had-helped-them was following. As they had gathered before entering, the tunnel was very thin, very dark, and very steep. They made sure to test their handhold each time they moved forwards after losing their grip and sliding backward far too many times for their liking.

They weren’t sure how long they had been climbing. Their birthplace had disappeared from view behind them, and there was still no sign of an exit, and Little were starting to wonder if they should turn back, but an encouraging nudge from the-vessel-that-helped-them kept them moving even when they stopped.

Finally, the exit came into view, just slightly brighter than the tunnel itself. The vessel crawled out of the tunnel, turning around to watch their sibling exit as well. That would be the case if something didn’t slam right into their side halfway through turning. Before Little even knew what was happening, they hit a wall, shell cracking with a thud that made their void twist uncomfortably. 

They looked up at their attacker. It was long and spindly, its many legs far too long, and there were way too many spikes on its body, which were too close together, its underbelly glowed a terrible sickly light, but perhaps the worst feature of all is that it wore their kins face and wings, which appeared to be crudely speared onto its neck.

In near seconds it was upon them, one of its legs pinning them to the floor. They watched as it lifted its leg, preparing to stab it through their shell, something pushed it off them. Little quickly scrambled up, now able to see that their sibling was the one who threw it off of them. 

They watched as the-vessel-that-helped-them thrust a long pointy stone at the creature, it slicing through its delicate underbelly, spewing globs of sickly-light everywhere. One hit their sibling before they could dodge it, throwing them to the ground, the creature stumbled over to their downed sibling, one of its many legs breaking one of their horns.

It was over before they even had a chance to move it was over, the creature had learned the consequences of hesitating. A leg was thrust through their shell, causing cracks to form around the hole, and void to leak from it onto the ground.

One word made it to Little, one last word from their sibling. Run. They did just that, turning and running. The nearest exit was too far, and even when they passed through it, out into the rest of this terrible place, it didn’t stop. They ran until one of those terrible bitting things popped out of the ground, that disappeared before they could hit the. They would run until they tripped on one of those light forsaken rocks, only to get up just to trip again. Until the maze of this place seemed to open up, until it seemed they were finally out of this place, only to have the ground ripped out from under them. Until the dark stones, and glowing plants gave way to green, so much green, and even then they kept running.

The green stuff on the ground was soft on their feet, the way the long green thing swayed in the nonexistent breeze calmed their void, but they would still run. It was too risky to chance it, as the thing with far too many legs might have followed them, so they continued, despite how many times they would trip into the spiky vines. No matter how many times they would fail a jump, or the platform they were standing on would fall away. They continued until there was, yet another, change in scenery. 

It was still green, but now less so. A thin mist covered the area, and growing on the walls and floor were small transparent rocks that disappeared when touched. Now that the vessel had stopped to take in the scenery, they could see more of these strange “rocks”, except the inside was tainted with sickly-light. Little was very careful to avoid those, as well as the larger one. They were disgruntled with their loss of progress, but they didn’t want to test fate.

They made it further, into another green area, but this one didn’t have nearly as many spiky plants as the first one. The bubbly burning water halted their progress often, and the thin, green bugs that would dive at them were annoying at best, but altogether they much preferred this area over the others they went through. Eventually, The green stuff slowly stopped showing up nearly as much, the farther up they went, until it disappeared completely into cold stones, much like the area that they ran from, but instead of the eery silence that lasted until something jumped out at you, there was a distant howling that was near-constant. 

It scared Little, they weren’t going to deny it. The idea that something was making that noise, but the place far below scared them more, so they continued upwards. Further and further until finally, the tunnels broke away, the howling got louder, and some invisible force seemed to shake them to their very core, but, they were finally out and away. They looked around then, it appeared that they had come out at some sort of cliff. There were platforms like those in the birthplace, floating with nothing to support them. They scaled them too, climbing to the top of this cliff.

There was flatter ground here, and as Little moved across the area, dropping down onto a slightly lower ground they saw a small tunnel, and while they didn’t like the idea of going straight back into a cave, something called it there. 

As they entered they saw something, a bench. Somehow only then did they realize how utterly exhausted they were, so they walked over to the bench, slowing from their run. They sat on the bench, and it was oddly calming, and they couldn’t help but nod off, the howling of the wind echoing in the cave slowly lulling them to sleep.


End file.
